


Magic Boxes

by Redrikki



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: American History, Gen, Nuclear Weapons, Remixed, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-20 04:11:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2414477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/pseuds/Redrikki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Howard builds magic boxes and out of them come weapons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magic Boxes

Edward Teller brings sun screen. It's barely 5am and just finished raining but he slathers it on and hands it off. The scientists and guards pass the bottle around like soldiers with a flask and dab it on like cologne. Howard gives himself war paint stripes along this cheeks and down his nose before rubbing it in. "So, what do you think we'll get out of this?" he asks Isaacs as hands it over. "A 40,000 ton blast, 45 maybe?"

Isaacs smears the sun screen on haphazardly. "We'll be lucky to get half that, assuming the thing even detonates."

"Oh, it'll detonate," Howard assures him. He should know; he wired the damn thing. He might not be the engineer Zola is, but he knows how to build weapons. 

"I-I heard Dr. Fermi taking bets on if it sets the air on fire and destroys the world," a fresh-faced MP broaches nervously. 

"What an asshole," Isaacs says. "Tell me you didn't actually put money on that."

Howard looks down the range to where the bomb is hanging from the scaffolding. At this range, even with the binoculars, it's little more than a blob. "Hell of a way to end the war if it did though," he laughs. "Hell of a way if it did."

*****

Howard blew into Alamogordo on the back of a thunderstorm and wished he could blow right out again. With Schmidt gone, the _real_ war was over and it was just a matter of time until the Japs called it quits. He should be out with Agent Carter and the boys mopping up what was left of HYDRA's tech or searching for Rogers now that the North Atlantic was finally free of U-boats. Instead, the army in its infinite wisdom had sent him to the desert to build a bomb. 

Except they hadn't even done that. It was like Project Rebirth all over again. Some other scientist had done all the theory and chemistry and design and all that was left for Howard to do was build a fancy box. They'd put their plutonium in and bing, bang, boom, out would come the latest bouncing, baby weapon. Except this time there would be no human heart at the core of it, just burning, indiscriminate destruction. And this time there would be all the information they'd need to make the next one and the next one and the one after that. 

Once upon a time, Howard built flying cars for the skyroads of the future. Someday, he promised himself, he'd get back to it. There was always just one more weapon, one more war machine to make. Once the war is over, then he'll get back his futures and flying dreams. 

*****

Somewhere down the range someone pushes the button that detonates the bomb. Howard can see it in his mind's eyes, the way the explosive lenses blow inward, compressing the plutonium until it bursts. The flash is like the sun come to earth and sears his eyes even through the protective glasses. He can feel the heat wave baking the sun screen into his face. 

"Holy shit," the fresh-faces MP breaths. His hands are shaking. Howard's hands are shaking.

One of the physicists gives a war whoop and hugs his neighbor. Isaacs starts to laugh. 

The bombs on Schmidt's Valkyrie tapped into the power of the Tesseract while theirs harnesses the power of the atom. They're going to drop it over Japan, they can't not now that they've built it. Some city will die in fire and this time Rogers isn't here to stop it. "Hell of a way to end the war. Hell of a way."

**Author's Note:**

> The first atomic bomb was detonated as part of the Trinity Test at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range in Mew Mexico. Edward Teller did bring sun screen and Enrico Fermi did take suckers bets about setting the atmosphere on fire. You can find out more information about the test [here](http://www.abomb1.org/trinity/trinity1.html) and [here](https://www.osti.gov/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/trinity.htm).
> 
> Isaacs' name is borrowed from Charlie Isaacs from the TV show Manhattan.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Magic Boxes (The What Remains Mix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4180740) by [Glinda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glinda/pseuds/Glinda)




End file.
